My Kind of Moment

I love moments in life that are filled with beauty and simplicity.  The moments that break you from the clutter of worries in your mind and onto the purity of the immediacy that surrounds you. The kind that temporarily erase the "could have beens" and "what ifs" and solely let you see what is right in front of you.

***

Our oldest son found a praying mantis.  As the little ones all gathered to see the small creature who had been spied, trying it's best to blend in with the earth, our youngest son could barely contain himself.  He stood behind his siblings, trying his best to find the perfect place to get a peek at their newest friend.  "Let me hold hims, let me hold hims!"

"Just a minute, buddy," our oldest said quietly still carefully observing it himself.  Our youngest's excitement grew by the moment.  He was wriggling and writhing trying his best to not explode, not yet having earned his patience badge at only three years old.  He kept rubbing his own hands as if he was lathering them with soap, clearly trying to keep his fidgeting fingers from grabbing without permission.  For a second he would quiet, and then he would explode again not being able to contain it any longer.

"Let me see hims! Let me hold hims!"

"Just a minute." Our oldest tried again, knowing he could only put off the inevitable for so long.

"I need hims!" He grabbed his cheeks and squeezed dragging his eyes down exposing the pink of his inner eyelids. Clearly the pain of waiting had become far too much.  I worried that a creature as small as our new friend could live through such an excited, emotional handling, from a three year old who had been made to wait far too long; a three year old who is still mastering the fine art of "gentle touches."  I looked over at him.  He had this poor; melted cheeked, slumped shoulder, shoe scuffing, sad lump of a little boy look.  He wanted nothing more than to play with the magical creature that was lurking in our back yard.

"Let him see it," I said softly.  His face instantly shot up.  His excitement meter filled back to the brim and maybe over.  He jumped for joy, clapped, and jumped again.

"My turn?"

"Your turn." I winced as his big brother handed him the tiny creature.  I said a small prayer that it would not be it's last moments on Earth, premature death at the hand of a little boy who wanted nothing more than to just love it too much.  As it crawled into the palm of his hand the world stood as still as his ever moving baby hands had now found themselves.  He didn't make a noise, he didn't move his feet, he just stared.  Just him and what was unfolding right in front of him, tranquility, simplicity, perfection.

My kind of moment.